


try to love the things you took

by Lise



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Caretaking, Clint mother henning everyone other than himself is my headcanon forever, Gen, Loki's a goddamn mess, Mind Control, Protective Clint, never not thinking about Clint and Loki's weirdass roadtrip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4047256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's been a bodyguard before. This is a little different, not just because his boss seems intent on driving himself into the ground and Clint's pretty sure he needs to do something about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	try to love the things you took

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I write Clint&Loki fic that is sort of nice except for the fact that there is always mind control lurking in the background of it. This is one of those. Written for a prompt by [attackfishscales](http://attackfishscales.tumblr.com). If you lurk on my tumblr you've already seen this one, though it's been a while.

His master was flagging. 

Clint could see it, even if his master was trying to hide it. His eyelids drooped heavily, and the circles sunken around his eyes made him look skeletal and sick. When he thought no one was looking, his shoulders shook like he was cold. Clint tried turning up the heat until he was sweating and Selvig complained, but it didn’t help. 

All he’d been told to do was  _drive,_ and he’d been doing that for a few hours now, his master sitting beside him and staring straight ahead, eyes hollow. He was still clutching that stick/staff thing, the blue glow casting odd shadows on his face. He couldn’t let this go on. 

He waited until he saw a suitable motel on the side of the road, then pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine. His master straightened at once. “What are you doing?" 

"I’m going to go get a couple rooms,” he said, “and then I’m going to go find you something to eat, and you’re going to sleep. Just for a few hours." 

His master seemed to tense. "I am fine." 

"All due respect, sir,” Clint said carefully, “but you look exhausted. It’ll take SHIELD some time to get back on their feet, and that time would be well used making sure you’re at your best.”

“Fine,” his master said, after a few moments of silence. Clint let out a breath of relief and hopped out of the car, striding over to the lobby. He booked two rooms on one of his own credit cards - one of the ones SHIELD didn’t know about - and brought the keys back, giving one to Selvig. His master stumbled a little getting out of the car, straightening like it hurt. Clint wanted to know where he had been, suddenly, so he could kill whoever hadn’t been taking care of him. 

He handed over the keys after opening the door. “You just stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back with some food.”

“Wait,” his master said suddenly, as Clint started to turn for the car. “Why are you doing this?" 

Clint blinked, a little taken aback by the question. "Somebody needs to,” he said. His master looked at him for a long moment, expression flickering between confusion and something Clint couldn’t read, and then he shut the door. 

Clint went back to the car and drove until he found a Subway. He realized when he got up to the counter that he had no idea what his master liked, so he ordered four different sandwiches in the hopes that one of them would be acceptable. The bored teenage employee behind the counter barely glanced at him, and Clint paid in cash. He realized as he was walking back to the car that his stomach was growling with his own hunger, but he pushed it aside. That could wait. 

* * *

It turned out he didn’t need to worry about the type of sandwich. His master ate all four, wolfing them down like he hadn’t eaten in…in…

“When did you last eat?” Clint asked, trying not to sound worried. His master licked a few crumbs off his fingers, eyes flicking up to Clint. 

“It doesn’t matter." Clint made a little bit of a face, privately disagreeing, but his master wasn’t done, watching him with a peculiar look on his face. "Thank you,” he said, suddenly. Clint shook his head. 

“It’s just Subway." 

"Not specifically for the…for your care.” His lips twitched like he wanted to smile. “I was right about you." 

_You have heart,_ Clint remembered, and felt his swell and warm, but there was also a strange twisting feeling in his guts. He stood up, rubbing his hands on his pants. 

"I should go,” he said. “Check on Stephen Hawking next door." 

"On who?” His master asked, and Clint remembered belatedly,  _alien,_ and was embarrassed. 

“Selvig,” he corrected himself. “Don’t want to leave him alone too long with the Tesseract. Might start doing dirty things with it." 

His master let out a startled little bark it took him a moment to identify as a laugh. When he did, that made his heart jump a little, too. He turned, quickly, not sure what to think about that. "You should probably sleep,” he mumbled. “Just a few hours. I’ll wake you up.”

“Stay with me." 

Clint fell still, and turned slowly. His stomach clenched at the look on his master’s face, hungry and desperate. His eyes were wide and his pupils seemed huge, taking up too much of his pale iris. 

"What do you mean,” he asked, carefully. 

“Nothing untoward.” The words seemed to come out of him in a rush, like after the silence in the car he couldn’t get them out fast enough. “Only - sit here. Nearby, where I can hear your breathing. I do not sleep well and if I am to try I would sooner not be alone." 

_He trusts me,_ Clint thought, and his chest was full of warmth. "You want me to watch your back,” he said, sucked in by that look of hunger, of  _need,_ on his master’s face. “While you sleep?" 

”–yes,“ his master said, but after a moment that made Clint think that wasn’t all. "Yes, I want that." 

Clint looked for a chair and sat down in it. "Then I’ll stay,” he said, simply. For a moment he thought he saw his master’s eyes widen, and then the expression was gone and he smiled, an expression full of dazzling relief and gratitude that made Clint dizzy. 

“I am glad I chose you,” his master said. “Perhaps…perhaps you are a sign my fortunes are beginning to turn." 

Clint wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that smile, and that he was the reason for it. 

"I’ll take care of you, sir,” he said, on an impulse, fierce and earnest. “No one’s going to hurt you again without going through me." 

His master didn’t reply, his eyes closed, curled up on top of the covers. Clint got up, pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed and spread it over him so he wouldn’t get cold. Then he sat back down, one eye on the door and one eye on the bed. Let Selvig play with his magic cube.  _He_ had the important job.


End file.
